Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.
~ Seneca

Poet Writer Albany NY
~ Seneca
As you get older the more things change – for the better or for the worse. Sometimes being a writer and becoming somewhat of an self-isolationist is like being in a sanctuary and finding your true self, your true voice and words. The outside world never goes away. It will always be there.
~ R.M. Engelhardt
“In every bit of honest writing in the world … there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. there is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other.”
(Journal entry, 1938; quoted in introduction to 1994 edition of Of Mice and Men)
~ John Steinbeck
Poet and writer R.M. Engelhardt will be the featured reader 2017 Albany
Word Fest edition of the Albany Poets Presents reading series at Restaurant Navona (89 New Scotland Avenue, Albany) on Wednesday, April 19, 2017.
Albany Poets Presents puts a spin on the typical poetry event in the local literary community by highlighting one poet every two months with an interview and Q&A session following the reading
Bio:
R.M. Engelhardt is a veteran poet & writer whose work over the years has appeared in many journals & magazines including Rusty Truck, Thunder Sandwich, The Boston Literary Review, The NY Times, Full of Crow, Dry Land Lit, The Outlaw Poetry Network, Telepoem & in many others. He is one of the original co-founders’ of Albany Poets and is currently the host of the Troy Poetry Mission, a monthly open mic for poets held in Troy, NY.
On Friday, January 20th Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as The President of the United States of America.
This will be a very sad day indeed. And as poets and writers everywhere we need to speak up and say what needs to be said, and share those words with our nation and the world.
So here’s what we do.
At EXACTLY 8pm on the evening of Friday, January 20th I’m asking all my friends and fellow writers and poets to simultaneously all post a poem or prose piece against the election and presidency of Trump. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress …
EVERYWHERE.
That’s it, that’s all we need to do but we must all be united in this protest.
No matter who you are, what country, what race or what nationality this is the moment to Stand Against Trump.
All I ask?
Tag the bottom of your posts with these words that say we stand together.
#poetsandwritersstandagainsttrump
Please join me, spread the word and invite all other writers and poets.
Join Us On Facebook:
Thank you.
R.M. Engelhardt
POET ?
I smoke in the ashes
Of my own myth
Follow the voices in my
Head that say “Record these
Moments”
Become another soothsayer
Of another century, another
Shadow treading light
There are thousands
Like me
Thousands searching
Everyday
Perhaps for God
Perhaps for themselves
Perhaps for no one
For they live and re-live
Words, language
Alone
And call themselves
Poets
“Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there.”
— Henry Miller
The”Bones of Our Existence, A Journal 2046″ my new book is now up & online. Find the words, the work & the poetry here. Look for 2 , The free PDF chapbook and the audio versions of the pieces to be added soon.
Thanks again for all your support, love and comments.
The Poem Remains.
~R.M.
Wherever we go we do harm, forgiving
ourselves as wheels do cement for wearing
each other out. We set this house
on fire, forgetting that we live within.
~ Jim Harrison